Malaysia: 92-year-old Mahathir Mohamad to run for Prime Minister’s post

January 9, 2018, 2:35 PM IST

Kuala Lumpur: The opposition alliance has once again chosen Malaysia’s long-serving former prime minister, Mahathir Mohamad, as prime ministerial candidate.

Parliamentary elections will be held in Malaysia in August this year. Mahathir Mohamad is 92. If he wins the election he will become the oldest politician to become prime minister. According to analysts the popular figure among Malaysian people, Anwer Ibrahim is in jail, in this situation Mahathir Mohamad can prove as a big political threat to current Prime Minister Najib Razak, who has been embroiled in a multi-billion dollar financial scandal involving a state development fund called 1MDB. This has declined his popularity.

Mahathir Mohamad is the chairman of position alliance while Anwar Ibrahim’s wife Dr Wan Azizah is the vice chairman. Mr. Mahathir stepped down as prime minister in 2003. He is in active politics for 7 decades. His deputy and heir apparent, Anwar Ibrahim, was abruptly sacked in 1998 over political difference, and was then jailed for six years on sodomy and corruption charges. The opposition says that if it wins it will seek a royal pardon for him so he is eligible to be prime minister.